New York Rangers (18-9-1) at Chicago Blackhawks (17-8-3) 8:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Central CSN-Chicago/MSG+
STARTING GOALIES:
New York: Antti Raanta Chicago: Scott Darling
STATS:
GOALS PER GAME: New York 3.54 Chicago 2.71
GOALS AGAINST: New York 2.46 Chicago 2.39
POWER PLAY New York 22.4% Chicago 16.3%
PENALTY KILL New York 84.7% Chicago 71.4%
SHOTS FOR/AGAINST New York 28.4/29.4 Chicago 28.7/30.8
NOTES:
Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook are ruled out of tonight's marquee NHL matchup for Chicago.
Rick Nash is out for the Rangers, and possibly the one that got away (from the Hawks anyway). Jimmy Vesey, who missed last night's game, a 2-1 Blueshirt win in Winnipeg.
Like the Coyotes, the Rangers come in on the second game of a road back to back. Unlike the Coyotes, the Rangers are a really good NHL team. The Blackhawks probably need to play their best possible game, missing two critical players, to gain a point a two. This is a character test of both he Hawks secondary scoring and secondary leadership.
A sliver of good news: the Hawks penalty kill, while still mired in the basement of the NHL statistically, is starting climb into the low 70s. Tonight would be a very good time to continue that trend.
I'll recap tomorrow,
JJ
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